Ofoborh and next season
Greetings from an AFCB fan and congratulations on your season and promotion!
Sadder times for us but that's football. One of the positives about going down is that I think we may see some of our youth prospects given a chance to play some matches again. There have been a few knocking about the last couple of seasons but the PL was so brutal I think Howe was afraid to play them. On the occasions where injury forced us into it, things didn't go so well!
So I was curious how Ofoborh got on for you this season? I know he scored in the semi final but it doesn't look like he played that many games, all things considered. Do you think he's ready for Championship football or might be sent out on loan to League 1 again?
I'll be honest in that he wasn't one of the youngsters on my radar until his move to you, with my eyes more on Kilkenny, Surridge and Dobre. I'm hoping he's showed something in his games!
Also, how's Rocky getting along? He was a little unlucky in his time with us in that the team developed too quickly and he couldn't keep up. I always felt there was at least a Championship keeper in there if he was given the proper chance and he should just about be in his prime now so maybe your promotion is well timed!
Good luck next season. It's been an unreal few seasons for us but I still remember how amazing it felt to finally get into the Championship, our only previous spell there being under Redknapp which is a distant youthful blur for me. You'll have a blast!
Comments
Ofoborh is rubbish. You should definitely release him.
Being serious though, I think he's a real player and he excelled for us in the playoffs. I wouldn't be too put-off by his number of appearnaces this season. Ainsworth rarely throws new signings into the team before they've been "Wycombised" and we're quite stacked for options in his position. Plus he got sent off on one of his first home performances vs Pompey which instantly put him back down the pecking order. When he's played I've been impressed, but equally, whether he can produce the goods week in and out in a team going for the title next season (as you should be) is up for debate.
Allsop will divide opinion a lot more I think. He had his fair share of clangers last season, but kept his place once we brought in Stockdale on loan and Ainsworth clearly rates him. He was also excellent during the playoffs and I expect he'll be our number one next season.
Commiserations on your relegation. I assume you'll come on strong next season and no doubt will be up there. I remember visiting Dean Court sometime around 2009/2010. It was one of Howe's first games in charge and you were well adrift at the foot of League 2. You beat us 3-1 I think (Matt Harrold scored for us off his backside) and it seemed you never looked back from there. We've both come a long way since!
Ofoborh's future I would have thought depends to a large extent on Bournemouth's ambitions and especially those of its owner.
They get very substantial parachute payments but have very substantial residual player obligations. If the realistic aim of the owner is to seek to get promotion back to the Premier, then it is perhaps a little early for Ofoborh to play a major role at the top of the Championship. Best for his development then may be to loan him out for another season -having been a Lg1 player last season, bottom end Championship may be right place for him next season. I know a club in South Bucks who fit that mould.
If however Bournemouth are tight financially and happy to sit in middle/low Championship, then he may well be a decent squad option at least.
I was hoping that you stayed up so we could try and get Ofoborh on another loan. I am convinced if he stays focused, he has the potential to be a Premier League player.
Allsop, whilst a good shot stopper, does not command his area and thus in my opinion is not Championship standard. I think we need to sign a more confident keeper to at least challenge Allsop for the first team spot.
I think it's probably more likely we have Jordon Ibe playing for us next season than Nnamdi Ofoborh. Even if he's not an automatic first choice for Bournemouth he's surely good enough enough for the bench and cup games and he's proved at Wycombe he's up for fighting his way into contention in the first team with committed, disciplined, passionate displays. I'd love to have him back for another season but I just don't see why Bournemouth would let that happen myself.
Ibe on the other hand... If no one else comes in for him in August and he is willing to take a massive pay cut, I can see him signing for a year and using it to prove to the bigger Championship clubs that he's still got what it takes to be a match winner. His goal against Sheffield Weds is one of my all time favourites and he may feel that Wycombe in the Championship, with all that history for him, is a perfect place to kick-start his career again. Having said all that, he'll probably go and sign for Millwall tomorrow.
Commiserations @WillDanceForChocolat but Mrs W is happy we might be able to get a night in the wild, fleshpots of Dorset next term. Ofoborh showed glimpses, as they say, and was willing to have a shot (as we saw) but plays in the same position as a lot of our starters (Gape, Thompson, Bloomfield) so would always have had to be patient. He looked strong and good in the tackle, but perhaps did not get on the pitch as much as he might have. Gaz tends not to change a team unless he has to so a few people missed out on minutes last season. Rocky, like all keepers, has a torrid time. He's not the best, but not the worst and behind a good defence he kept the third highest number of clean sheets in the League last season (according to the Sky Gods) though you would never guess from the stick he gets. Probably best if Eddie loans Nmandi back to us and we'll let him know if he's Championship level!
I think the biggest plus Nmandi has is that he really came ready to play in the big games he was picked in. That goal at Fleetwood will remain on my top Wycombe moments.
Thanks all, interesting to hear.
It's really hard to know what will happen with our squad. The owner has committed to pushing for promotion again but there's no doubt that we'll need to cut the wage bill significantly in places, even allowing for the relegation clauses. Naturally a few players will be sold but where it gets interesting is with a few of the old hands.
Daniels, Francis and Surman are all out of contract. If we'd stayed up I imagine they'd all have been given another year but I'm not sure it makes sense for someone like Surman now we've gone down. He was fifth choice CM this season and barely played. Even now he'll be on a relatively high wage so if Ofoborh really has shown something with you, and it sounds like he may have, then it could be he's a much cheaper option to slot into that space in the squad.
Whilst players will be sold I'm not sure anyone will come in for any of the other CMs.
As for the mention of Ibe... good luck if you do sign him. He should tear the Championship up with his talent but you have to wonder what's going on in his head at times. That car crash... then the haircut during lockdown... I'd have some concerns but I guess it's something we don't need to worry about anymore.
I suppose a lot depends on what Ofoborh wants himself too. He's had a really good season with us and clearly integrated himself into the squad. He knows if he comes back here next season he'd be a regular starter and notch up 35+ appearances in the second tier. Or he may prefer to stay at Bournemouth and fight for his place, but that sounds like it'll be different if he's 5th choice.
There'd be a benefit to you sending some good loanees to us next season. It's very unlikely we'll be challenging anywhere near the top of the league and can use them to try and take some points off your rivals...
Welcome Will.
Out of interest what's the feeling on the Board's threat to sue over Goal-line technology missing a goal against A Villa. A little embarrassing surely?
I don't think that's embarrassing at all, and I think they absolutely should sue. If the powers that be want to ruin the game in the "interests of accuracy" then they should also pay the price when it turns out to be a useless crock of shit that has relegated a team. I'm a little embarrassed that one of our fans would suggest that suing would be embarrassing.
I agree with the good doctor...the whole point of VAR and Goal-Line technology was surely to prove beyond reasonable doubt and ensure teams got their just rewards.
Classic @DevC thread derailing. Takes me back to the glorious pre COVID days.
I don't agree with legal action unless they lodged something at the time. A VAR mistake is surely no different to a refereeing error
It is interesting that Dev, a huge proponent of VAR, thinks its embarrassing that people complain when it doesn't achieve what it was intended to do.
It's a tricky one, but there are a couple of players in the squad which could go on loan to other Championship teams depending on what happens with the squad. I am kind of hoping they stay and are given a chance though.
There's been no threat from the board about suing, that's media hyperbole. There is talk that the board will discuss the situation in their next meeting but what business wouldn't given that if they went ahead and won it would probably mean a payout of about £20 million compensation, a la Sheff Utd? As directors of the company I think they're pretty much legally bound to go through it together even if they then decide not to proceed. I'd rather they dropped it but then I'm not the one that would have to replace that £20 million with money from my own pocket.
I don't think it will go anywhere. That seems to be the same view of most fans, barring the irrational few that you always get at every club.
The whole technology implementation was a compete nightmare this season. I get the goal line technology had the highest profile one but VAR was a total mess and didn't solve even some of the easy problems.
The classic example is Burnley scoring a last minute winner at our place with the player using his arm to control it but VAR ignoring it then in the reverse fixture VAR then disallowed a goal that would have put us in the lead for a much lesser case of the ball hitting the players arm. If you're going to have technology in football then it has to be consistent and that's a black and white example that cost us a point in the first match and ultimately you could argue our PL status.
VAR is here to stay but it'll be good to not have it in the Championship next season*
*I reserve the right to loudly rail against a ref/lino who miss a completely obvious decision that costs us. That's part of the football experience and doesn't mean I want VAR.
I do indeed support VAR. It would for example have avoided the penalty at Fleetwood that could have cost us a deserved promotion. I wouldn't ever regard it as infallible though. Nothing an-made ever is.
I have no objection to criticising VAR (or in this case goal-line technology). I agree with @Right_in_the_Middle that I find considering legal action over a mistake six weeks ago utterly ridiculous. Shame he had to include personal abuse in his post as usual though.
I wouldn't want this thread to become yet another discussion of VAR but would be interested in a Bournemouth supporters view of this mooted legal action.
The Bournemouth case is about goal line technology, not VAR. The goal that was incorrectly ruled out was the first time that the technology has failed in 9,000 games so no one can claim that goal line cameras haven’t been a success. VAR, however, is another story and I have never been a fan. Far too often it comes down to personal interpretation of an incident in which case we might as well let the referee’s initial decision stand.
Didn’t Ibe score for us against Sheffield United, not Wednesday?
My thoughts on Ofoborh are that he’s excellent at breaking up play but needs to work on his distribution. He certainly improved in his spell with us and looks an excellent prospect. Keen to get him back if we can.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/15413544
@Glenactico Wednesday
Wednesday
If they aren't going to offer him at least playing in cup games and the chance to challenge for a first team shirt then you can be sure we'll bite their hand off if there's any chance of having him back. Suspect it'll come down to who else they can shift and what their squad looks like. We might have to wait until after whatever passes for pre season as clubs want extra players around for training and swapping about in matches that don't mean anything.
Thought Nnamdi was improving with each performance before lockdown, and would definitely want him back if it was an option for next season, but feel like he would be a good squad player for the Cherries to have next year. Played some really smart football at times for us, was impressed by him and think he’ll have a solid EFL career going forwards.
Agreed @Double_H Personally I think he got better with each game. The last three games, he appeared to not just pick the easy 1st pass, held on to the ball a bit longer and played a more measured/selective pass. No doubting Nnamdi will get even better, not yet ready for PL but I believe he will, like Division 1, grow into the Championship as the season progresses.
Ofoborh was decent, and had a good end to the season, but just as a word of caution, he was barely getting in over Thompson, Gape and Bloomfield for a lot of the time.
However, our management don't get many signings wrong, and if he came back it certainly would be positive.
With Bloomers taking on the additional coaching role, I can see there being space for Nnamdi.
Nnamdi comes across as an incredibly likeable character too, I'd love to see him back here. I think he'd have much more chance of a regular start at Wycombe than Bournemouth.
I’m also a big fan of Nmandi, he is indeed a smashing lad who is always smiling (except for the day he got sent off, never seen a player looking so upset). He has energy, gives us much needed height in midfield and can pick a pass. All round good player and good guy, love to welcome him back.
Ditto to all of that.
But I mean Nnamdi ! Apologies @glasshalffull.
I think staying with us for another year would be beneficial to Nnamdi. He is full of energy, quite physical and suited to our style. At Bournemouth I'm not sure he would get many starts this season as he doesn't seem to me to really suit their tiki-taka style.
Nnamdi really looked like he belonged at Wycombe. He could well develop into a midfielder in the mould of Patrick Vierra and Yaya Toure. Long, rangy athletic and a passing range that would improve, without the pressure of being at an ex Premiership club, who will be expected to make a push for promotion at the first attempt.
Saying that Eddie Howe's is astute enough that certain games, need midfielders to stifle opposition playmakers, or close a game out.
All the less, Nnamdi not far behind Nico Yenaris has been one of Gareth's finest loan acquisitions.